Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Workshops

October 12, 2018

Remembering, surrendering – and kindest part, the coolest dream of all my heart.

People can feel stuck for a number of reasons. The FACT model is a therapy where clients focus on accepting the feelings for what they are, committing to making a change they can realistically make and that will enable them to move on and passed this feeling of being 'stuck', to living a more thriving life again.

FACT is a model of brief therapy that is a highly condensed version of a well-established longer-term treatment called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Strosahl et al 2012) and can work well for people wanting to get 'unstuck'.

FACT uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies to help people transform their relationship with unwanted, distressing experiences, such as disturbing thoughts, unpleasant emotions, painful memories, or uncomfortable physical symptoms and the impact these experiences have on their current life.

FACT does not attempt to change the content of such private events; indeed it is efforts to change, suppress, eliminate, or control these events that FACT views as problematic-the attempts to make those changes becomes the problem in terms of anxiety and low mood. When people become preoccupied with managing these uncomfortable experiences they cannot attend to the immediate needs of their life situation. In effect they can become rigid, ineffective problem solvers.

FACT teaches clients to instead simply observe and accept them to see emotions as just emotions, memories as just memories, thoughts as just thoughts, and sensations as just sensations. This has proven to be a successful pathway for people to be able to move on, and take up an active part in their own life again.

FACT is a model worth considering for clients with anxiety and depression disorders and those clients who struggle with negative thinking and who are prone to ruminating on their difficulties might also be excellent candidates for FACT.